Our lives have boundaries imposed upon us by time. There is just no way to get around that fact. Time has a funny way of shifting too; depending on our desires. If you want time to move ahead, it feels incredibly slow. If you want time to stand still, it feels like it is moving at warp speed.  Within the context of time, we find our roles and priorities because we only have a set amount of time within a day to complete everything we wish to do.

The roles we want to hold in life will dictate our priorities. I want to be a “mom-that-volunteers-at-my-child’s-school”. That is a role. Therefore, my desire for that role drives me to make time in my busy schedule to volunteer and therefore setting it as a priority. As I started out volunteering at the school, I took on too much and felt overwhelmed. One frenzied day it dawned on me that I could still be a “mom-that-volunteers-at-my-child’s-school” but do a little less and take on two tasks instead of three. I still have the role as mom volunteer but in a dose I can manage.

I want to have the role of “wife who supports her husband’s hobbies.” This means that from November thru February, I hold down the fort at home several nights a week while my husband referees high school basketball in the evenings. I have set it as a priority to be a supportive wife, so when things get hectic around the house without my husband’s help during basketball season, there is an extra measure of grace within me because I have made it a priority based on the type of spouse I want to be.

Relationships are a wonderful  lens in which to look at this topic. If we want a role within someone’s live, we make it a priority and find the time in our schedule to keep the connection. Otherwise, staying in touch with that person “somehow” just falls off our radar but we tend to blame it on busyness. The truth is that maintaining a relationship with that particular person just wasn’t enough of a priority to give it the time-slot in our schedule that we do have to spend on relationships. Other people took priority because we longed to have a role within their lives more. A little harsh? Maybe. But I think it’s true. We have to face that fact and be honest at least with ourselves.

Take some time and think about the roles you want to have in your life and then begin setting your priorities within the confines of a 24 hour day…